Sikh man was charged with terrorism for being a ‘brown man on a bus,’ lawsuit claims

A Sikh man who was arrested and detained in Texas after being falsely accused of making a bomb threat on a Greyhound bus is suing after his ordeal.

According to the Amarillo Globe-News, 30-year-old Daljeet Singh was on a bus traveling through Amarillo in February when a passenger said they heard Singh say the word “bomb” to a fellow passenger who was from Pakistan.

Singh’s lawsuit alleges that he was racially profiled and asks that criminal charges be brought against three passengers on the bus who accused him of being a terrorist and physically restrained him until police came and took him into custody.

The 10-page suit said that Singh was talking to fellow passenger Mohammed Chotri of Pakistan when another passenger let their imaginations run away with them. Insisting that the men must be terrorists, she urged the bus driver to pull to the side of the road.

The driver dialed 911 and Potter County sheriff’s deputies took Singh and Chotri into custody on charges of making terroristic threats. Both men were later released and cleared of all charges.

“The only crime I committed was wearing a turban, having a beard and speaking in a different language to another brown man on a bus,” Singh said in a statement to the Globe-News.

Rights group The Sikh Coalition — which aided Singh in bringing his suit — identified the passenger who reported Singh as Tianna Lynn Decamp. The suit accuses Decamp of the crime of making a false alarm or report.

“Ms. Decamp viciously profiled Mr. Singh,” says the complaint against her. Of the 40 or so passengers on the bus, Decamp was the only one who claimed to hear any mention of the word “bomb.”

Potter County Attorney Scott Brumley told the Globe-News that he will review the suit before deciding if any charges should be filed.

About the Author

David Ferguson is an editor at Raw Story. He was previously writer and radio producer in Athens, Georgia, hosting two shows for Georgia Public Broadcasting and blogging at Firedoglake.com and elsewhere. He is currently working on a book.